All-America Selection Winners (Annuals)

Stunning violet purple leaves and pink flowers makes this variety perfect for flower beds and pots. The licorice taste is wonderful paired with tomatoes, and it colors and flavors homemade vinegars. A member of the mint family, basil is great as an herbal tea for stomach complaints. Pinch often, mulch, grow in organic, well-drained soils.

Dark green cut foliage is the backdrop for the unruly crossing stems of this brilliant cosmos, each stem holding the glorious multipetaled orange flowers outward as if offering for your close inspection. We give it an A+ for depth and richness of the flowers, for the ease of growth and for the way it charms bees all summer long.

A charming small flower that looks like baby snapdragons in a fruit salad mix of colors of yellow, rose, blue, violet and more, most often sweet bicolors. A cheerful early summer edger, the seeds should be mixed with sand to sow thinly in earliest spring, for they revel in cool weather.

Spun gold and garnet single flowers will turn your head. An antique variety with varying heights that gives an informal look to the flower or vegetable garden, where they shine paired with the dark leaves of 'Bull's Blood' beet.

A scarce petunia variety bred by Bodger in California, it was an All-America Selections Gold Medal Winner in 1950. The fragrant flowers open rich red and fade to a soft red shade. Of the 45 pre-1960 AAS award-winning petunias, this is the only one still surviving!

If you love poppies, and just hate to see them go by as summer takes hold, you will love these silky, lemony cups of bloom. Long-flowering, throughout summer and into fall, its fabulous ferny grey-green foliage completes the package. Provide excellent drainage. Self sows.

In 1942, Tithonia was known as Golden Flower of the Incas. Vivid orange, single dahlia-like flowers up to 3.5 inches wide bloom at the ends of strong-branched plants. An All-America Selections winner in 1951. It is attractive as a hedge, at the back of the garden and as a cut flower.

In 1942, Tithonia was known as Golden Flower of the Incas. Vivid orange, single dahlia-like flowers up to 3.5 inches wide bloom at the ends of strong-branched plants. An All-America Selections winner in 1951. It is attractive as a hedge, at the back of the garden and as a cut flower.

A fresh and sweet pure pink flower with various shades of the original rich pink. A scatter and grow easy annual that blooms in 6 weeks from seed, and can be sown twice or more a season. Best in early summer and fall as it dislikes high heat. Attracts beneficial insects to your garden.

Masses of overlapping pointed petals of burnished copper tipped with gold mark this older variety, which won an All-America Selections award in 1962. Easy to grow, simply sow outdoors after the soil has warmed. Pick and fill earthenware vases for simple country arrangements. Grow with 'Starfire' marigold.

A clear favorite in trial gardens across the country, this glamorous sister to 'Queeny Red Lime' is a stunner. Saturated apricot to kiss-of-peach hues are accented by lime green and raspberry at the center of the blooms. Full of reliably double flowers it is disease resistant too and makes a beguiling addition to the romantic bouquets of summer.